Virus and Firewall

eulen76 · Aug 21, 2005

What AV to get?

I am a new Mac user and have read the discussion on firewalls and virus protection. I like to err on the side of safety, so I have activated the Mac firewall. My question is which AV of the ones mentioned is the best? (in your own opinion)

Norton, ClamXav, Virex?

Thanks in advance for any opinions

eulen76
KC, MO

schweb · Aug 21, 2005

Well if you have Tiger, don't use Virex, it's not compatible.

I've personally been using Norton for a while and I think it works well. ClamXav is free and has some good reviews, but I've never tried it myself.

JES13 · Aug 21, 2005

Firewall ?????

schweb said:
Well if you have Tiger, don't use Virex, it's not compatible.

I've personally been using Norton for a while and I think it works well. ClamXav is free and has some good reviews, but I've never tried it myself.

???? Don't we already HAVE a Firewall installed in our Computers (confused), I'm just not sure 'which' areas are the 'right' ones to check off so I can still get into the NET, but not have to 'worry' as much.

Our Firewall is in the Sys. Pref. under "Sharing".... (I have Tiger - installed in May).....

eulen76 · Aug 21, 2005

Thanks

schweb said:
Well if you have Tiger, don't use Virex, it's not compatible.

I've personally been using Norton for a while and I think it works well. ClamXav is free and has some good reviews, but I've never tried it myself.

Thanks, I will give it a shot.

eulen76

schweb · Aug 21, 2005

JES13 said:
???? Don't we already HAVE a Firewall installed in our Computers (confused), I'm just not sure 'which' areas are the 'right' ones to check off so I can still get into the NET, but not have to 'worry' as much.

Our Firewall is in the Sys. Pref. under "Sharing".... (I have Tiger - installed in May).....

He's asking about Virus protection, not firewalls. Virex, Norton AV, and ClamXav are anti-virus programs.

Kokopelli · Aug 22, 2005

The default Firewall for OSX has little to no value. It does not have address or interface filtering and simply indiscriminately blocks or opens specific ports. If you hunt back a month or two in my posts you will find my tirade on the subject. For my OS X client boxes I just hand coded the rules and gave up on the default firewall.

OS X Server's firewall is much better. It does the job quite well if certain features are less than obvious on how to perform (such as address based blocking).

For Virus protection I do not have any on my Macs, too many horror stories. I do use ClamAV on my linux boxes though and I like it there. One of my scheduled tasks is to periodically mount my Macs as a firewire drive onto one of my servers and let it scan the entire contents of the system. So far I have kept clean, though ironically I am having to repair one of my Windows servers that somehow got infected.

menace3054 · Aug 22, 2005

i recommend Virus Barrier available from www.intego.com

i had Norton AV and now this, i personally like this better. Uses very little system resources

technologist · Aug 22, 2005

Kokopelli said:
The default Firewall for OSX has little to no value. It does not have address or interface filtering and simply indiscriminately blocks or opens specific ports. If you hunt back a month or two in my posts you will find my tirade on the subject. For my OS X client boxes I just hand coded the rules and gave up on the default firewall.

OS X Server's firewall is much better. It does the job quite well if certain features are less than obvious on how to perform (such as address based blocking).

For Virus protection I do not have any on my Macs, too many horror stories. I do use ClamAV on my linux boxes though and I like it there. One of my scheduled tasks is to periodically mount my Macs as a firewire drive onto one of my servers and let it scan the entire contents of the system. So far I have kept clean, though ironically I am having to repair one of my Windows servers that somehow got infected.

Both OS X and OS X server use the same firewall. OS X server just has better configuration options. There are shareware apps to configure a desktop machine's firewall, or you can hand code them as you did.

As it stands, the OS X firewall is basic, but it does have value. It keeps applications on your box from talking unless you want them to (unlike certain other firewalls I could name.) Combine it with a good router-level firewall (even NAT works) and it should provide all the security most users will need.

Virus and Firewall

eulen76

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schweb

JES13

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eulen76

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schweb

Kokopelli

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menace3054

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technologist

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